


Volterra

by Angelily_Viventis



Series: Alan Rickman x Plus-size reader [17]
Category: Alan Rickman - Fandom
Genre: Age Difference, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Anxiety, Caring Alan, Comfort, Crying, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Italy, Married Couple, Married Life, Older Man/Younger Woman, Size Difference, Stress Relief, Sweet Alan, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-22
Updated: 2020-05-22
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:01:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,319
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24320242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angelily_Viventis/pseuds/Angelily_Viventis
Summary: Alan has a surprise for his wife. After a long and stressful day at work, (Y/N) breaks down crying. Alan decides now would be the perfect time to reveal the surprise.
Relationships: Alan Rickman/Original Female Character(s), Alan Rickman/Reader
Series: Alan Rickman x Plus-size reader [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1729954
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	Volterra

**Author's Note:**

> Please note: these are individual one-shots and function as stand-alone chapters. None of the work in these series follow on each other unless indicated as "Parts".

The townhouse is quiet as the evening sunset spreads across a very rainy London. All that can be heard is calm breathing and the slight rustling of a newspaper every time its page gets turned. The front doorbell chimes, interrupting the peaceful silence and causing Alan to glare at the front door over the top of his newspaper.

_Who on earth could that be?_ He wonders as he didn't expect anyone to stop by the townhouse today.

He pulls himself off the corner couch with a grunt and shuffles lazily towards the door. He unlocks it, opens it, and is greeted by his wife's frantic face.

"Darling? Why are you wet? Where are your keys?" He asks as his eyebrows pull together in a questioning manner. He steps aside to let her in.

She stomps through the door, dripping wet from the rain while blowing her runny nose with a tissue, and Alan can see she's high strung.

"God only knows! I swear I took them this morning... I spent 35 minutes outside in the rain looking for them. God! I swear I'm starting to lose my mind!" she exclaims heatedly and frazzled and moves her arms in an animated fashion as she explains causing raindrops to fly through the air.

Alan walks over to (Y/N) and envelopes her in his arms in an attempt to calm her down. Due to her short height, she fits perfectly under his chin and he uses this fact to rest his chin on top of her head while squeezing her tight.

He can feel her damp and cold body instantly relax as she wraps a pair of arms around his waist and blows out a deep breath. She coughs violently and covers her mouth with a fist as her body shakes against Alan's. 

"It's okay, it's okay. I'll help you look for them later on. I'm sure they must be here somewhere. And if not, then I'll call someone to come to change the locks," he reassures while rubbing her back soothingly.

He pulls back and stares into her eyes making sure she understands his words. Sometimes her mind can be working a mile a minute and words get lost to her. He knows she's ill and he doesn't want to risk getting infected, but all he wants to do is kiss her supple lips which are deliciously wet from the rain. So, that's what he does.

He leans in and places a long loving kiss on her wet lips and smiles at her as they part.

"Come here, I want to show you something," he slides his hand down her arm and takes her supple hand in his large one. He was about to pull her into the direction of the kitchen when she interrupts him.

"Let me just head upstairs, dry off and change out of these spanx first," she says as she pulls at the tight material encasing her stomach and thighs under her now wet outfit.

She places a sweet kiss on his cheek and makes her way tiredly upstairs to their bedroom.

In the meantime Alan keeps himself busy by folding and putting the newspaper away, tidying the living area and putting his cup of tea from earlier in the kitchen sink before rinsing it and letting it dry on the drying rack.

He turns around and leans against the sink counter while giving a complex sigh. He thinks back to his wife and her frantic outburst just moments earlier. The moment she stepped through the front door he could see she was tightly wound.

It has been that way for the past three weeks now. Ever since she had to fire a fellow colleague due to his indiscretion, and take over his role in the faculty too. Losing her keys shouldn't have been such a big deal, but Alan knows it's all the tiny things building up to it that let to her outburst. For some reason, he feels as though it's been happening a lot more lately. To top it all off she's been down with horrible flu the past week and yet she soldiers on to work each morning, arriving back home not until after dark.

He looks down at his wristwatch and sees it's been fourty minutes since she went upstairs.

_Strange, she never takes this long to change..._

He walks into the master bedroom to check up on her and sees her large body stretched out over the bed, lying flat on her stomach, passed out from tiredness.

_Well, at least she'd changed into something more comfortable_ , he thinks to himself as he notes her lilac oversized t-shirt and black yoga pants.

He decides to let her sleep peacefully, takes the cashmere blanket on the footstool, and softly drapes it over her sleeping form. He switches on the bed lamp and closes the door quietly. He tiptoes down the wooden stairs even though he knows (Y/N) can not hear him, and makes his way into the open plan kitchen to prepare dinner for them.

Two hours later he makes his way back up the stairs with a steaming hot cup of tea. He gently pushes the bedroom door open, careful not to make too much noise.

He walks over to her side of the bed and places the cup down on her side table quietly.

She stirs at the sound and cranes her neck in Alan's direction. She looks at him through squinted eyes and attempts a tired smile.

"I'm so sorry, did I pass out?" She croaks as she lifts the top half of her body with her arms pushing into the bed and rubs tiredly at her eyes.

"No need to be sorry, darling. You're tired. I'm sorry if I woke you up," Alan leans down and rubs her back soothingly.

He walks over to the en-suite and bends down to the bathroom cupboard. He sifts through their collection of lotions and gels and finally settles on a large tub of purple herbal healing gel. He grabs a small white guest towelette from the storage cupboard and makes his way back over to the bed.

(Y/N) had fallen asleep again, but was startled awake when she felt the bed dip on the end where Alan sat down. He picks her left foot up with so much care and lays it down on his lap. He removes her white wooly sock and takes a scoop full of the purple gel and starts massaging it into her foot.

(Y/N) moans into the pillow as Alan kneads the soft cushioning under her foot with his strong tubby hands. The warming sensation the gel is creating on her foot along with the wonderful touch of Alan's hands is causing all the tension in her aching body to wither away.

"Turn around. Have your tea," Alan instructs and taps her lovingly on her foot.

(Y/N) rolls over on her back, careful not to get any of the wet gel still on her foot, on Alan's clothes. She sits upright, leans back against the headboard, and reaches over for her tea before cupping the porcelain in both hands and resting it against her chest. She takes a long sip of the hot liquid and sighs in satisfaction.

Alan proceeds to do the same with her other foot. He pokes and prods while massaging all the soft areas on her right foot. As he presses on a pressure point near her big toe, tears start to roll voluntarily down her cheeks and she gives a soft sniff.

She covers her face with her hand as salty tears fall down and mix with sweet tea in the cup. She hopes Alan won't hear her because the last thing she wants is for him to think she's weak.

Alan looks up and catches the sight of his wife's heartache. He quickly looks back down to his task at hand in order to let her have her moment. He finishes massaging her feet, screws the white lid back on the tub, and cleans his hands on the towelette.

When he can hear her sobbing no longer, he cautiously looks up to see if she's okay and asks, "(Y/N), talk to me. What's upsetting you, my sweet?"

_Silence_.

"I don't know if I can do this anymore, Al. I'm exhausted and I have no time for myself or us anymore... I've looked at my upcoming schedule and let me tell you - it's not getting any better."

She cringes at the thought of how much more work awaits her in the near future and her stomach tightens inside at the amount of stress she's experiencing.

"What do you want to do, love?"

_Silence_.

"Step down?"

"No! No." She answers shocked at his words. "I don't want anyone to think I'm a failure!" She sobs and rubs frustratingly at her wet eyes at her mixed feelings.

"Darling, no one is going to think of you as a failure. But you have to admit, reaching success at such an early age as well as taking on the head role in the faculty plus the extra workload... Babe, look at me," he turns her chin to direct her eyes to look at him in all seriousness.

"An emotional burnout was bound to happen. I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner."

"What should I do, Alan?..." she asks quietly after a while.

She looks up at him and he can see the vulnerability in her eyes. The raw emotion emitting through them is enough to give Alan goosebumps.

"I don't want to step down and occupy a minor position in the faculty. And I don't want to quit and just give up everything I've worked so hard for. This was my lifelong dream, to become Executive Dean, what do I do if I were to lose the position? No! All my hard work and dedication... to just turn my back on that... I- I- I ca-n't!" She rambles faster as her heartbeat races and she starts to hyperventilate.

Her throat feels like it's about to close up as she gasps for air quicker and quicker. Tears sting her eyes and stream down her face as she goes in full panic mode. It feels like her gut is being clenched together by an iron fist.

Alan lunges forward quickly rubbing at her back while squeezing her hand tightly.

"Okay, let's breathe. Everything is okay. It's nothing we cannot find a solution to," he reassures while rubbing her back in the hopes that she will calm down.

His deep velvety voice and his soft but firm touches calm her down and she follows him along as he shows her how to breathe in... and breathe out.

Once everything was quiet again and Alan was sure his wife is in the clear, he pulls out a white handkerchief from his pants pocket and wipes her tears away before he continues.

"I wanted to show you something earlier." He says in his deep British accent.

He pulls a photograph from his pants pocket and hands it to (Y/N).

She stretches out her arm timidly and grasps the photograph with a shaky hand. Her breath hitches in her throat as the beautiful browns, oranges, and yellow-ochres reflect back in her chocolate brown eyes. Beautiful Tuscany-styled houses with terracotta roofs peak through between the green leafy hills.

"It's beautiful," she breathes. "Volterra?" She asks with a smile splayed on her face.

"Hmhmmm. I know how much you enjoy our stays there every year and you do know it's my favourite place on earth," he starts.

"Your _little piece of heaven_ , you called it - if I remember correctly," she interjects.

"Yes, well. With some help from Simone Domenico, I managed to buy us a fully furnished house in Volterra..." he waits carefully for her response.

"Wait, Simone helped you? How?"

_Seriously? This is her question after telling her she's the new co-owner of a house in Italy?_ Alan smirks and shakes his head.

"I looked at some properties online and he offered to go look at the ones I had in mind and he would call me with feedback. Eventually, I found the perfect one and Simone helped me communicate with the Italian sales agent who sold us the house," Alan explains proudly.

"Darling, that's the view from the patio of our new house in Italy. What do you think?" He probes her.

"Oh, my God, Alan... It's beautiful!" She exclaims and runs her thumb over the picture.

"Wait until you see the actual house. I think you will love it."

"Now, to help your situation I was thinking... what if you took a three-month or six-month sabbatical and we can go stay in the new house for that time? It will give you some time away from everything. It's the perfect opportunity to clear your mind and ease the stress." He proposes.

"W-what about your filming and directing?" she asks with worry etched onto her face.

He takes the picture from her hand and places it next to her now cold tea on the side table. He encases both her hands in his large hands and looks straight into her eyes.

"I'm wrapping up the new film in two weeks and then my schedule is clear for the remainder of the year. I won't take on any new projects unless I know for sure that you are taken care of and well again," he leans forward and presses a long kiss on her forehead.

She sighs in contempt and slings both arms around his neck, pulling him closer.

"Thank you, darling. For the house... for your support... for your patience... for everything. Thank you for saving me time and again. I would really appreciate it if we can go away. Just the two of us." She stares into his eyes while they rest their foreheads together.


End file.
